Public employees hoping to see larger Social Security benefit payments following the repeal of the federal Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) may have a long wait.

While the Social Security Administration (SSA) hasn’t provided a timeline for when changes will take effect, officials are warning the process of recalculating and paying benefits for millions of beneficiaries will likely take a significant amount of time to complete—potentially a year or more.

What we know so far

Congress passed H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, in late December and President Joe Biden signed the bill in early January. The bill repeals WEP and GPO, which for decades had reduced Social Security benefits for retirees who also received a pension for work not covered by Social Security.

As enacted, the bill applies to benefits payable after December 2023, meaning affected retirees who were already receiving Social Security benefits in 2024 will be owed back payments once their benefit is recalculated. So far, SSA hasn’t said whether those back payments for 2024 will come as a lump sum or be included in future benefit payments.

Why the long timeline?

There are a couple reasons why implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act could have an extended timeline, with staffing and funding being two of the biggest challenges.

According to SSA, the agency is understaffed and has been under a hiring freeze since November 2024, meaning it is unable to bring on any additional staff to help with implementation or answering the phones. In addition, the Social Security Fairness Act did not include any funding to pay for any of the administrative costs associated with this significant change in federal law, SSA said.

Unless SSA receives additional funds or the staffing freeze is lifted, the agency will have to work within its current budget and staffing levels to complete all the changes required under the law.

How to stay in the loop

The Social Security Administration will continue to provide updates on its website, and more information should be available in the weeks and months ahead.

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